German official cites Greece as reason not to expand eurozone

Reuters — Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder on Wednesday rejected any expansion of the eurozone and said his conservative party also opposed euro bonds and the creation of a European finance minister post.

Soeder, slated to become premier of the prosperous southeast German state of Bavaria, won applause from some 4,000 people at a political Ash Wednesday rally with his comments, noting that his CSU party had also warned years ago against bringing Greece into the eurozone.

“We don’t want another debate and more trickery. We don’t want an expansion of the eurozone to include countries like Bulgaria and Romania,” Soeder said.